Wire reel



G. T. CHRISTIAN ET AL WIRE REEL Filed Dec. 18, 1963 Aug. 16, I966 r. M gee T 1 VENTORS.

BY LL/WM ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,266,749 WIRE REEL George T. Christian, Van Nuys, and Joe Tripini, Los Angeles, Calif., assignors to Great Western Container, Inc., Burbank, Calif a corporation of California Filed Dec. 18, 1963, Ser. No. 331,557 3 Claims. (Cl. 242--118.7)

This invention relates in general to spool and reel construction, and relates more particularly to cable reel construction such as those designed to carry telephone cable.

Although various alternates have been proposed, the great bulk of telephone and similar cable is nevertheless still provided on metal reels of substantial strength and weight. These reels have side flanges sufficiently rugged to withstand reasonably rough handling without the flanges of the reels buckling, and to support the weight of the cable which, as an example of a common range, may be three to five-hundred pounds.

It is customary for a contractor to determine the amount of cable of a particular size and type which is needed for his construction or remodeling project. He places an order with the manufacturer of such cable, the cable is then cut and wound upon a delivery reel and shipped to his attention. When he has used the material from the reel he fastens the reel to a utility pole by means of a chain and lock, and informs the company of its location by giving the pole number. The supplier then has trucks which circulate the city and pick up the reels thus designated for return.

These reels are unyielding steel, and when used in office buildings, hospitals, and other locations where reasonable quiet is required, the reels rumble and disturb the occupants, as well as providing a hazard to the finish of the building. The hazard occurs in that inadvertent contact with wood trim, doors, edges of marble wall panels and such appurtenances of the building causes expensive damage.

Further, the steel reels are quite heavy, as well as unyielding. Fingers caught between such reels and a truck body or the wall of a building are usually severely damaged.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a disposable reel which will withstand adverse Weather conditions for a reasonable period of time.

It is a further object of invention to provide a disposable reel which has a sound dampening effect and hence may be rolled along building corridor floors without disturbing occupants of the building.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a light weight and safe reel construction yieldable to minimize danger to person and property.

The return procedure used with steel reels has been some problem with respect to being attractive nuisances to children. They tend to play with the reels unless tied very tightly to the pole. Often children are hurt by catching fingers between the pole and the reel. It is an object of this invention to provide the reel in such light weight and yielding nature that the reel may be given to the child as a toy and be perfectly safe for such purpose.

In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, a preferred form of the present invention is disclosed in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a reel constructed according to the principles of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the reel;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of the reel showing one side flange partially broken away; and

FIGURE 4 is a greatly enlarged edge view taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

3,265,749 Patented August 16, 1966 The drawing illustrates a cable reel made according to the principles of this invention, comprising two composite end flanges 10 and having a central cylindrical core 12. The core 12 is a tubular construction which is made by wrapping long strips of paper around a spindle. The paper is coated with glue and hence hardened into a very rigid cylindrical member. Other central core constructions are perfectly acceptable for this invention.

The end flanges are secured to this core 12 by any conventional fastening means suitable for the material employed. In the illustrated embodiment of an all-fibrous material construction, the end faces of the core 12 are sufficiently broad that a glued construction will provide sufficient rigidity and bonding strength.

Each flange 10 is composed of a thin disc 14 of a compression strength material and a thicker disc 16 of light Weight crushable material. As an example, the thin disc 14 may be pressed fiber board or thin plywood. Paper on veneer has been used, but is more subject to destruction if supported at the axis and edge rolling machinery is used to wind the reel. If the reel is driven by a power spindle at the axis, such splitting is far less a problem.

The thicker disc of light weight crushable material is preferably several layers of corrugated box board, generally about three layers being sufficient for the average purposes. As an example, using hardboard (Masonite) of A" thickness, and a composite paper disc thick, a good workable reel of 42 inches diameter is produced.

The prior art efforts to provide a disposable reel, or a reel having less noise and greater safety conveniences than steel, have employed end flanges of plywood or heavy sections of pressed fiber material. However, such heavy sections of this type of construction material is heavy in weight and high in price. It is not a truly disposable construction and is subject to deterioration and therefore no particular advantage is gained by making a reel of such solid end flange construction.

According to principles of this invention, the end flanges are composed of a composite construction such that material of high compression strength is employed in such thickness that its theoretical compression strength will support the load to be carried by the reel. However, when the material of high compression strength is made thin enough such that its calculated compression strength is proper for the load, plus a reasonable safety factor, the disc i very flexible and subject to elastic buckling.

Actually, the end flanges of a cable reel are circular composite columns. The weight of the reel is not supported on all of the circular construction at one time, but a portion of the material under the load area and down to the supporting surface acts as a column supporting the load. A column is a relatively long member in compression. The main classification for columns is derived according to a slenderness ratio which is the ratio ofthe length to the radius of gyration about a principal axis of the section. Other factors are involved, such as condition of end restraint which will be recognized by engineers, but need not be fully developed in this disclosure.

Abrupt increase of lateral deflection of a compression member of a critical load while the stresses are wholly elastic constitutes elastic buckling. When compressive stress in a column reaches the elastic limit before elastic buckling develops, any sudden increase of deflection or twist leads to collapse.

An initially straight column under axial load remains straight until a condition of neutral equilibrium is reached, when the column will continue to support the full load with considerable lateral deflection. A small increase of load above this condition of neutral equilibrium causes a large increase of deflection, leading to collapse.

Leonard Euler, a well known scientist in column physics analysis, expresses the critical buckling load and the critical average stress in terms of the slenderness ratio set forth above. His mathematical formula is arranged such that an increase in the radius of gyration will produce a greater critical average stress, leading to a stronger unit.

According to this invention, the radius of gyration is materially increased without adding greatly to the cost and weight of the reel by the use of the bulky backing layer of corrugated material indicated as the thicker disc of light weight crushable material 16.

The layer 16 is a glued composite structure well known to the paper making industry, and this backing layer is in turn glued to the inner surface of the thin disc of compression strength material 14. Hence, the end flanges are of a composite nature. The single disc 14 is shown on the exterior, where it will protect the more crushable material. Obviously this situation may be reversed, but it is not advantageous to do so. Furthermore, it is entirely possible to use two thin discs of material 14 but such double use of thinner materials leads to increasing the cost without commensurate increased advantages.

The usual manner of winding the cable upon such reel is to place the end of the cable in a hole in the core 7 12 and then to rotate the reel upon spindles inserted in axial openings 18. The spindles do not necessarily drive the reel from the center, but rather it is common to press a drive roller against the peripheral edge of the end flanges. For this reason also, a softer material than the material of the disc 14 deteriorates and is not suitable for the intended purpose. All corrugated flanges, for example, are subject to rapid edge distruction.

It has been found that this construction may be protected against precipitation by spray filling the ends of the corrugations with a filling plastic material, or simply by using water proof materials in the paper to prevent deterioration. The reels are not unnecessarily exposed to the weather conditions prior to use of the cable, and maintenance of the reel after it has served its purpose is not of interest, because this is now a disposable item.

The composite end flange construction as thus illustrated and described has a unity of operation and yet is very definitely yieldable under dynamic forces, with a return to useful support position upon elimination of the external pressure. That is, the reel may bump the side of a truck or other object and deflect, yet it will not buckle as might be expected, nor will the impact produce excessive noise in an office building or similar condition, and will induce considerably less damage than an unyielding metal or even wooden structure would do.

While the instant invention has been shown and described herein in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention which is therefore not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be afforded the full scope of the claims.

What is claimed is: 1. A cable reel comprising: two composite end flanges held in axial alignment and spaced relationship by a core member; each said flange composed of a thin disc of material having a theoretical strength suflicient to support the weight of material to be carried by the reel when that weight is applied along the plane of the disc; a thick disc of corrugated backing composed of several layers of corrugations extending in cross relationship; and, said thick and thin discs being united to function as a unit; whereby, a spool having two such flanges will be capable of bearing the weight of cable carried by the reel on the stiffened thin compression material discs, because the thin material is held against yielding to bending stresses due to the increased radius of gyration provided by the corrugated paper backing. 2. In the cable reel construction of claim 1, said thin disc being pressed fibre board material.

3. In the cable reel construction as defined in claim 1, said thin compression disc being of plywood.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,001,569 5/1935 Kiefer 242-118.7 2,615,564 10/1952. Post 242118.4 X

FOREIGN PATENTS 584,780 10/1959 Canada. 442,412 2/1936 Great Britain.

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

MERVIN STEIN, Examiner.

G. F. MAUTZ, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CABLE REEL COMPRISING: TWO COMPOSITE END FLANGES HELD IN AXIAL ALIGNMENT AND SPACED RELATIONSHIP BY A CORE MEMBER; EACH SAID FLANGE COMPOSED OF A THIN DISC OF MATERIAL HAVING A THEORTICAL STRENGTH SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE WEIGHT OF MATERIAL TO BE CARRIED BY THE REEL WHEN THAT WEIGHT IS APPLIED ALONG THE PLANE OF THE DISC; A THICK DISC OF CORRUGATED BACKING COMPOSED OF SEVERAL LAYERS OF CORRUGATIONS EXTENDING IN CROSS RELATIONSHIP; AND, SAID THICK AND THIN DISCS BEING UNITED TO FUNCTION AS A UNIT; WHEREBY, A SPOOL HAVING TWO SUCH FLANGES WILL BE CAPABLE OF BEARING THE WEIGHT OF CABLE CARRIED BY THE REEL ON THE STIFFENED THIN COMPRESSION MATERIAL DISCS, BECAUSE THE THIN MATERIAL IS HELD AGAINST YIELDING TO BENDING STRESSES DUE TO THE INCREASED RADIUS OF GYRATION PROVIDED BY THE CORRUGATED PAPER BACKING. 